This is What We Do III
by Kaity the Chameleon
Summary: The Chaotix are back for more mysterious happenings and pitting themselves against the clever minds of the criminal element! With danger and suspects everywhere, it'll take everything the team has to find the truth and solve the case.
1. A Show to Die For

**Okay, I'm getting too bored of not writing, so I'll be posting other stories until I can access _OC Heroes_ and _Unnatural Chaos_ again. So don't worry, I didn't abandon them, I just can't get to them. Anyways, quickly get through copyrights and then a summery of the case you're about to be reading. Kaity the Chameleon (C) me. Espio the Chameleon, Amy Rose and Rouge the bat (C) SEGA (Even though Espio is only briefly mentioned)**

**Summery: After being pulled to a play by Amy and Rouge, Kaity finds herself at a crime scene, and without the Chaotix to help her, things may go bad. Will Amy and Rouge make good subsitutes? A double homicide on stage!? The chameleon is only praying she doesn't send the wrong person to jail and release a criminal.**

Chapter 1: A Show to Die For

Kaity the Chameleon tuned out of what was happening on the stage in front of her. Instead of her usual black T-shirt and forest camouflage pants, she wore a midnight blue, long-sleeved top that seems almost fuzzy to the touch and black pants that could have been mistaken for velvet with a sparkle of blue reflecting off the stage's lights. To the chameleon's left, she could see Amy Rose in a red dress that touched down to her ankles when she stood, and matching high heels. On the right was Rouge, dressed in a figure-hugging purple dress and silk gloves that stopped just at her elbows. Thinking back to what had put her in her current position, wondering if being in Espio's place at the football game would have been worse. The female decided they were equal and listened to what was happening on the stage once more. On one side of the stage, the light shined on two humans covered in trench coats, wide brimmed hats, and sunglasses. According to the back drop, they we standing in a darkened ally with a single, almost burned out streetlamp as light.

From what the chameleon had gotten from the play so far, the two the light shined on were child killers, a thought that already boiled the chameleon's blood, and they had just killed a child. But the motive was that one of them was the child's father, unknown to the little girl or the man who stood in as her biological father.

"There was no need for it." The man on the right, whom had been before named as Eric said, a passionate disgust in his voice.

"You idiot," the other one, Kent, started coolly, "The brat saw our faces, she had to die." Eric opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by his brother "Money or not."

"But she was a child!"

"You're getting soft, bro."

"And you're turning into a monster!" The lines were recited so passionately, the chameleon spectator would often forget it was only a theater production. "I can't go on living like this. I'm sorry, brother, but I'm turning us in." The chameleon smirked; the best kind of criminal was a criminal with a conscious. Kent nodded, as if he agreed with his brother, one hand in the deep pocket of his trench coat. Both froze in their place as the over-hanging light faded into nothing and suddenly was lit above a Mobian couple sitting at an outside café table on the other side of the stage. A white fox and a red vixen, both about mid-30s, had tear-stained fur, but gripped the other's hand from across the table.

The red female seemed to renew her tears as her head dropped down. "M-my poor baby." It was obvious the vixen would not be telling the white fox across from her that the child she cried for wasn't theirs.

The white fox held her hand tighter, hoping to bring even the smallest amount of reassurance to his wife. "Don't worry, Rose, we'll see our daughter soon." Kaity took this time to roll her eyes, Both Amy and Rouge had a light flow of tears going down their cheeks. A waitress dressed in black pants and a red shirt holding the café's logo on it placed a pitcher of water on their table, smiled at the couple and left the stage. Lights showed on both pairs now as each of them spoke their lines.

Kent coolly approached his brother, closing the few feet of space between them and put a hand firmly on his shoulder. "I'm sorry too." His voice remained level and showing no signs of sorrow.

The red vixen brought out two pills, both colored with purple capsules.

"I love you, Rose." The fox whispered, taking the pill Rose offered him.

"I love you too, Todd." Rose whispered. "I love you to death…" moving in a simultaneous action, the two Mobians took the pill and took a swallow of water from their glass.

At the same time at the other side of the stage, Eric looked at his brother in confusion of how well he had accepted his plans, and apologized for something. But that was until his top half was suddenly thrust into a glistening blade Kent had swiftly brought from his pocket and shoved into Eric. The crowd gasped in a collective breath. Just as this is happening, both foxes dropped their heads to the table, imitating death. A silence hung in the air as the crown waited for the next reaction. Then, with a sudden swiftness only a killer could have, Kent took back the knife, now stained in blood.

**I apologize for the short-ness of this chapter, but I couldn't do much without going too much into other chapters.**


	2. Double Homicide

**I'm gonna try to dish these chapters out as quickly as I can. It's all pre-written, all that's left is revision and putting it into a document. I'm guessing I can get at least 2 out a day, depending on how long my computer time lasts and how early I start. It's actually pretty helpful, making all these little stories...kinda clears head space for the bigger stuff, like full-length fics. Anyways, enough ranting, Enjoy.**

Chapter 2: Double Homicide

Eric slumped to the floor, blood still gushing from the wound.

Kent's eyes widened at the sight. "Oh God! Kenny!" He screeched, already at his side, the bloody weapon long since dropped to the stage floor. Panic had already hit the crowd; screams of panic echoed as the seats quickly emptied, and the door for the exit flying open and filling with rushing people. Todd and Rose suddenly sat upright and looked around in equal shock and confusion.

"What happened!?" Rose cried, seeing the dead actor. Todd seemed to be attempting an answer but suddenly fell to the ground, going into a sudden seizure, his mouth foaming. The vixen whipped around, hearing the _thud_ and shrieked.

"Oh Chaos! Todd!!" She held him tightly against herself as the male still shook and jutted. Tears flooded her ruby red eyes. "Todd, please don't leave me, baby." She pleaded. Any of the crowd that was left now moved faster and louder. The detective in the crowd jumped to her feet, her stunned spell finally broken and pushed by the audience members going for exits. Amy and Rouge followed their friend, though it bothered them that she would run _towards_ the corpses instead of _away_ from them. Yet it didn't shock them. A purple cell phone was already calling for Espio's cell phone and getting no answer. The phone's owner was just making it onto the stage when it went to a voice mail.

"Lay 'im down, there's nothin' ya can do for 'im." She said seriously to the weeping vixen. But the female fox ignored her, still holding the motionless body of the white fox, his emerald eyes wide and fear-filled. "Lay 'im down. He's already gone." The detective repeated.

"No…" Rose whispered, her shoulders shaking with the effort to stop her tears.

"Miss, I'll have ta insist." Kaity said, taking steps forward to wrestle the corpse from the vixen's grip. The room was now empty, safe for the three girls and the actors and actress. Amy and Rouge made it up the stairs with some difficulty because to their attire, but were watching the real-life drama unfold in front of them.

"No! No, I won't!" Rose screamed, trying to bat the chameleon away with a free arm.

Kaity growled in irritation and turned to the watching bat and hedgehog. "Go see about the humans." She commanded, gesturing to the fallen actor, Kenny, and the man kneeling next to him. Now there were stagehands and other kinda of help around him and heading toward Rose. The girls reluctantly obeyed, not as used to being around the dead as their chameleon friend. Kaity turned back to the vixen, now speaking in a softer tone. "Let 'im go…he's dead. I'm sorry." The words seemed to work; Rose gently placed the emerald eyed fox on the ground, tears still streaming from her eyes. The detective stole a quick glance at her friends and the others she had seen. The ones coming over seemed to have stopped, hesitating to approach the girls and corpse. The living actor seemed to be hard to calm down, shaking furiously and babbling out nonsense sentences. Amy was calling the police and telling them what had happened and giving an address.

Rose, now calm, pulled herself into the chair Todd had fallen from, cradling her head in her hands and slowly shaking her head. "Oh Chaos…No…Please no…" she whispered in a soft tone. As Kaity went to sit across from her, the vixen looked toward the younger chameleon. "Who-who are you?" another flood of tears were whipped away from ruby eyes.

"Detective Kaity the Chameleon." She answered, slipping into the seat across from the stressed female fox. "I need you ta tell me everything that happened here, okay?"

"But…didn't you see it happen?" Rose asked, whipping away her latest flood of tears.

"I did, but it's for police reports."

"Police!?" Rose jumped from the seat, knocking it over and narrowly missing the fox on the ground.

"Don't worry, it's standard procedure. Though we'll need ta ask you and what's-'is-face over there ta stay here, okay?" Rose relaxed at that, placing the chair where it had been and began telling Kaity everything that had happened with the chameleon taking careful notes of everything she said.

"Todd and I were going out…we were so excited to be in the same production together, and as a couple."

"What was in that pill?" Kaity asked.

"It was supposed to be sugar. They're only special-made sugar pills. Todd's never had any kind of reaction to them before…Do you think someone meant to kill him?" Rose's voice tightened at the thought.

"It's possible, but we can't be sure yet." Kaity answered in a cool, level voice. "What about those people over there? Who're they?" the chameleon pointed to a black panther in blue jeans, the actor who was still in a slight panic, Kenny, and a tall, thin human male with brown hair and glasses resting on his nose. All of them talking with police.

"The panther is our prop man, Swift. The other actor is Jack Smith." Another sob escaped "The one on the ground is Kenny…I never could remember his last name. And the man over there is Paul, he's our director."

"What can you tell me 'bout them?"

"Well, I dunno a lot about Swift, he pretty much keeps to himself, but he's a really nice guy when he does talk with us, though he and Kenny didn't seem to agree on much."

"Like what?"

"Kenny was a perfectionist. Everything had to be just right or he refused to work on the stage. It got on Paul's nerves too. Once Kenny refused to perform because the lighting was off by…" She thought for a moment, "By three centimeters, I think."

Kaity pushed back her comment. "What about the other two? Kenny and Jack."

"Like I said, Kenny was a perfectionist. It bothered a lot of people; he was pretty stubborn about it all too. But he had a good heart; it was just in the wrong place. As for Jack. We're good friends. We hang out together backstage after a performance and talk about stuff, but nothing beyond that."

The chameleon nodded, mentally taking notes of Rose's tones and scribbling down her words. She stood and started off toward the actor talking with a police man. "Just relax, okay? Answer any questions the police ask you, and everything's gonna be fine."

**Yeah, go ahead and make 'you killed Kenny' jokes.XD I didn't realize it until after I made the name and was already a ways into the story. Feel free to make a suspect list and try and figure it all out. They'll be clues to help you out. Ya just gotta look for them. And if you ever wanna let me know who it is, I'm eager to know.**


	3. Question the Suspects, Get Answers

**Yay! Another update. This took a couple hours to write, but it was fun. Sorry 'bout that, I had to do a little change and re-post it.**

Chapter 3: Question the Suspects, Get Answers

A few of the policemen waved to the chameleon as she went by, she waved back. By now, she had met most of Station Square's police force. Kaity nudged by the officers sweeping the scene to listen to a rookie officer question the stuttering actor.

"S-she's my friend, Rose, only a friend." The human said quickly. The young officer nodded and smiled at the scared human, hoping maybe it would help him relax a little.

"And what about the victim's, Todd and Kenny?" he asked.

"Todd was a friend…but we didn't talk a lot. Kenny was kinda like my brother…he's been like that ever since we started the play." Jack answered. Kaity was about to ask a question to the actor before a pair of hands pulled her aside. Automatically tensed for a fight, Kaity twirled around, but was instead facing Amy and Rouge. They both looked worried.

"Let's leave; the police can take care of things." Amy said, already trying to pull the chameleon toward the door. She broke the pink hedgie's grip with ease.

"No, we gotta help solve this."

"They're saying we can't be here." Rouge stated.

"Tell 'em you're with Detective Kaity. Most of 'em know me." She countered, "Aren't you with G.U.N, anyway, Rouge?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Then you'll be fine." Without another word, the chameleon spun on her heel and went to question the actor.

**OoOoO**

"You're Jack, right?" Kaity said, looking up to Jack, who stood roughly 3 or 4 feet taller than her.

Jack nodded, "Yes. Are you the detective they were telling me about?" he asked in return.

"Yep. I just need ta ask you a few questions." She asked all the questions police had asked Jack again and again, everything seemed to fit what she had seen and heard.

"And what about the knife?" She started, "How could you accidentally kill someone with a knife?"

"It was s-supposed to be a s-stage prop." He answered. "The fakes ones look like the real ones…I was s-sure I'd picked up the fake." He answered, his voice growing to a level calmness.

"Can you find the fake one for me? I'd ta see that for myself." Jack nodded and left quickly, going by the black panther talking with a cop, and the director was no where to be seen. Kaity took this down time to think, it could not have been some random killing. No, there had to be a reason. There always was, no matter how stupid. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned, facing Amy Rose once again. The pink hedgehog held out her play program.

"Could this help us?" she asked, opening to a page listing the cast, stage hands, and others that helped the play become possible and a summery of each ones career in theater. There was a sparkling purple circle around the four people involved in the crime. Kaity read it quickly, noting a few things about each person; Rose and Jack both used method acting to prepare for their parts, Todd was seeing Rose for almost a year, and Kenny was the fun, odd-ball of the bunch. Even if he was a picky perfectionist. She stored the info away and looked to see who had written this all out, Paul Freemen, the director. _'He must like ta gossip…or he's just not good at keeping some things quiet.'_ Kaity thought to herself, handing back the program.

"I think this _can_ help, Amy." Kaity muttered, still in thought. "If Jack comes back, ask him how he would define 'method acting'." She instructed, already heading toward the only actress on the stage.

"What? Why?" Amy asked.

"I'd rather you keep an open mind." Kaity smirked.

**OoOoO**

Rose had moved from the last place Kaity had left her and finished talking with an officer. The vixen seemed happier then she had started out. "Hi, Rose." Kaity greeted, forcing down a knowing grin.

"Hi, Detective." Rose answered in a cheery voice.

"I heard you use method acting. Could you explain that to me? Method acting, I mean."

"Um, it's sort of like…like…well…Okay, let's say I got a part of a country girl. I'd go out to a little part of the country to get a feeling of what it was like, so I'd be able to bring that feeling out when I'm acting. It's pretty much becoming a character through emotions and memories." The young detective nodded her understanding and thanked Rose for clarifying the matter. Jack approached the duo with the black panther Rose had called Swift. Jack and Rose exchanged a small smile.

The human male held out the two knifes to the Kaity. "I found it. This one's the fake." He gave her the knife in his right hand. He handed her the other one. "Here's the real one." Kaity weighted them carefully, about the same; the fake seemed almost unnoticeably lighter than the real one. "S-Swift made them. He makes a lot of the props."

The panther nodded, his chocolate brown eyes seemed hard, but soft at the same time. "I make them as close to the real thing as possible. So actors can get a feeling for the real thing." Swift took the fake knife from Kaity's hand and pressed down on the tip, the shining blade retracted into the handle, leaving Swift unharmed. "It's supposed to just go into the handle, then come out with stage blood on it." He demonstrated by releasing the blade's tip. It shot out quickly, now stained in what looked like real blood.

Kaity looked at the blade, obviously fascinated with how quick it had changed. "I heard you and Kenny didn't along that well. Is that true?" she asked.

The panther's ears lowered a little, a slight growl escaping, "He was just really picky about things. It bothered everyone."

"You seem like the type with a short temper." The panther seemed surprised at this statement.

"Uh, well…yeah, I guess I do. But a lot of panthers do." He said.

"Have things ever gotten really bad between you two?"

"…" The panther looked at his feet; the chameleon could already tell he was getting angry. "There was this one time…I sort of threatened to kill him."

"Why?"

"He was going crazy about how the hat he was using wasn't the one he usually used. I told him it didn't matter, and we sort of got into a fight. I told him I was gonna kill him, but I didn't mean it, I was only angry."

Rose choose that time to interrupt. "Where's Paul? I haven't seen him since we were talking with the police."

"I dunno. That's the last time I s-saw him too." Jack said. Both the panther and chameleon suddenly noticed this fact too.

"We should go find him." Rose said, leading Jack and Swift away.

Rouge stepped out in front of Kaity, keeping her from following. "Amy told me to tell you Jack said method acting was like using your emotions to become someone else." The bat seemed to read Kaity's mind and quickly added "She'd be telling you all this, but a cop wanted to talk to her."

Kaity only stared for a moment. "Uh…thanks, Rouge. Hey, did you notice anything about how Jack talks?"

"No, I haven't talked with him that much…why?" the bat asked.

The ninja chameleon smirked, "No reason, but I think I just solved this case."

**I'm pretty happy with the non-extreme-shortness of this chapter...even though it looked longer in the document...Now that this case is almost done, can anyone guess whodunnit?**


	4. The Accusation

**This was supposed to be the last chapter, but I figued it's be a better suspence builder if I split it up a little. So I apologize for the uber short-ness.**

Chapter 4: The Accusation

The white bat stared in surprise at Kaity, "Really? Who was it?" she inquired.

"You'll find out when everyone else does." Kaity answered slyly, starting off toward the group of police and the cast involved. Everyone looked ready to leave for the day. "no one's leaving, are they?" the chameleon asked.

An officer with red hair and a mustache nodded. "We can't find much here, so we'll go over the evidence back at the crime lab."

"But the murders are gonna get away if you let everyone go!" The chameleon prayed she could convince them of this, being the only and second youngest Chaotix member there.

"Are you saying you know who it is?" The officer eyed Kaity suspiciously, as if he thought the she was lying. Regardless of what he thought, the statement got everyone's attention.

Kaity nodded, a smirk going over her tan muzzle, "And I've figured out how they did it, too."

"Well, don't just stand there, who was it!?" Amy demanded in a loud voice.

Kaity started off pacing slowly, eyeing everyone in the room, just like she had watched the oldest two reptiles act when explaining a case. "This job took two people." She started, "But because it happened with the props, it only leaves the cast and crew of the production."

"So, it was a stage-hand?" Amy asked, clearly confused.

Amy's comment was ignored as the chameleon went on, "These two had to work quick if they wanted their plan to work. Their first thing to do was switch out the pills, one to kill Todd and one they would normally use. I dunno what kinda drug it was, but that doesn't matter." Eyes of the police went to the assorted cast and crew members, all of which looked around at each other nervously. "The second part was switchin' the knives, it would've had ta go unnoticed 'till the right time."

"Stop stalling and tell us, detective!" Rose demanded, "Who killed my boyfriend!?"

"Let her talk." Rouge scowled, just as annoyed with her friend's stalling, but willing to wait.

"Thank you, Rouge. Now, in order at get this all done, the perp would've had ta be able ta be seen with the props and go on unquestioned."

"That would be Paul, Swift, Rose and Jack." Amy listed, counting off names on her fingers. "Right?" Kaity nodded, causing all but the four mentioned to relax.

"So, Which ones did it?" the red-haired officer asked.

Kaity pointed to the guilty party. "It was you two. Ya both killed Kenny and Todd."

**This isn't all of the explination, everything else will be explained after the killers are revealed...so, anyone wanna take a guess? Most people are guessing one right person.**


	5. A Show to Die For: SOLVED!

**Sorry 'bout the long wait. Anyways, the final chapter for this case is done, and it's all wrapped up. I'm hoping to start the next one soon.**

Chapter 5: A Show to Die For: SOLVED!

"Y-you don't have any-" The startled Jack was cut off by a more confident Rose.

"How? How would we be able to do that all? People were always watching us, there was never a chance to do any of that. And besides, Jack's knife is double checked before that scene."

"And why?" Rouge put in. "Why would Rose kill Todd? They were going out, for Chaos' sake!"

"Rose and Jack both used method acting." Kaity explained. "Meaning they use a certain emotion to get into their role as a character. And you should remember how Rose was in love with Kent in the show."

Amy and Rouge blinked, surprised that such a little detail mattered. "You're right!" Amy exclaimed, "They were in love!"

"That is, until Rose's daughter was killed, then she lost the will to live." Rouge added.

"I know, it was so sad." Amy sniffed.

"And they planned to get together." Rouge said again, seeing where it was going. "But why kill Kenny? He had nothing to do with any of that."

"So it wouldn't look like Todd had been their only target. In case the police dug a little too deep and figured it all out." Kaity looked over the accused with an uncaring eye. Jack was in near hysterics but Rose kept calm.

"You still haven't given us a 'how', detective." She smirked, already feeling as though she had won.

The detective smirked right back. "At least once before the murder, the lights went out and directed toward the other pair, makin' an ideal distraction." The vixen's eyes widened, her mouth opened and closed, as if trying to find the words to protest. "So, when the lights went out, Jack, who put both knives into 'is trench coat pocket, switched over to the real one and got ready for his part. And while the audience was lookin' at Jack and Kenny, you could somehow tell the pills apart and gave Todd the pill that would kill 'im."

Rose finally seemed to find a voice when Jack suddenly spoke. "But how'd you figure that all out!? We made s-sure nothing could've been noticed…"

"That's another thing." Kaity said, pointing to Jack. "The way ya talk, ya used ta stutter a lot, right?"

"Yeah, how'd you-"

"Even if ya can get over it, you'd still be stuttering on any 'S' words. But that's just you. When you were playing Kent, ya could pronounce anything that started with an 'S' clearly and without a stutter."

"Because he uses method acting?" Amy asked. Catching on, but still confused.

"In a sense, yes. It was like he turned into someone else. That's why he thought of Kenny as 'is brother when they started practicin' this play."

"That…sort of makes sense…" Rouge admitted, scratching her head.

"The same thing was happenin' with Rose." Kaity went on, slightly frustrated with her two friends. "Only they went a little too far and decided ta start datin'. But Todd was in the way. He already was seein' Rose. So they had ta get rid of 'im if they wanted ta be together."

"So they staged the killing of both to seem like accidents." The officer from before nodded, finally understanding everything he was hearing. "And if we check that knife, we should find Jack's finger prints, right?"

"Exactly." Nothing more could be said before a flurry or red and hot purple collided with the ground. When they became clear, Kaity was laying on the ground, a pair of hands wrapped tightly around her throat.

Rose was screaming in anger at the chameleon as she held the younger female in an inescapable grip. "Shut up, shut up now! Jack and I were _meant_ to be, I love him, and he loves me! Todd was just in the way of it all; we had to get rid of him. For the better of us. And I'm not letting some kid playing detective stop our plans!"

Jack stood in shock of what had happened to his love, she had just exploded. Amy grabbed the vixen roughly and tried to wrestle the blue-muzzled detective from her grip. This is when the human took action.

"Get away from her!" he yelled, easily lifting Amy from his girlfriend and thrusting the pink hedgie into the mob of officers that were by-standing. Rouge expertly ducked and dodged away from the falling and confused officers and took after the actor and actress.

"Screw Kick!" the thief said in a loud, authoritive voice, hitting her red target. The fox girl fell back, her arms suddenly flying into the air to come back down on the head wound. As the vixen's hands went up, so did her choking captive, sending the chameleon girl flying off the stage and ramming her into the first row of seats. She laid there for a moment, catching her breath and recovering her senses from the sudden shock of pain.

**OoOoO**

Back on stage, Amy had gotten up from her own fall and already had out her Piko Piko Hammer, swinging at Jack, who swung with the knife that he had been hiding in his pocket. Rouge took on the much older Rose. Exchanging blow-for-blow with swiftness expected only from the white bat. A red and yellow hammer suddenly flew between the bat and fox, leaving Amy on the ground and weaponless. The hedgehog scowled and jumped to her feet, now relying on moved she had learned from her boxer-cising sessions. Without a second's notice, Jack was flipped over the stage and slammed his back against the top of the metal gate stopping random wanderers from falling into the pit the orchestra played in. Kaity took her chance and handcuffed the dazed human.

"Just stay here for a while, ya won't get too far with 'cuffs on." She said, quickly rushing to the stage to see about Rose. Amy had teamed up with Rouge to subdue the angry Mobian. "Hey! Over here!" Kaity shouted at Rose. As expected, she whirled around, a fuming rage twisting her features into an ugly scowl. She just started to lunge at the chameleon when both Rouge and Amy tackled her from behind, pinning her to the ground. Rose struggled and screamed at the three.

"Oh, shut up already." Rouge smirked, pinching a nerve in the female fox's neck, knocking her unconscious in no time. "How ya feeling, Kaity?" the bat asked, looking over the said chameleon.

Kaity shrugged. "Fine…but I guess I owe ya one for savin' my tail back there."

**OoOoO**

Jack and Rose were being lead to a squad car when Kaity's cell phone sang, playing an 8-bit version of 'Moonlight Sonata' the chameleon quickly picked up.

"Hello?"

Espio's voice came from the other side. "Hey, you called earlier, you okay?"

"Yeah, there was a double homicide case I had ta solve. Where were you?"

"We were solving our own case."

"What!? At the game?"

"Yeah, I'll tell you all about it when we get back to the Agency."

"M'kay. Bye."

"Bye."

**Only two person guessed both right at some point. and here's what one of them sent to me in an PM:** **_'there's also that fox girl cuz she's got a decent friendship with the Jack dude. It seems like it was WAY more than "Just a friendship." Unfortunately, her current boyfriend was in the way so she gave him that pill that killed him.'_ Holy crap...That pretty much hit the nail on the head and put it through a cement brick.XD And you know exatly who you are. Both of you know who you are.**

**Anyways, back to the story, who want to guess what the next case is going to be about?**


	6. The Final Play

**Finally! I'm sorry that took so long to post. Really busy week.; Anyways, the next case! Espio, Vector and Charmy (C)-SEGA**

**Summey: While Kaity's going on with her case, The original Chaotix Detective Agnecy have a mystery of their own to solve. Star player for the Special Zone Runners, Billy Gruff is killed only seconds after scoring the winning point. And with a small amount of suspects, the Chaotix will have to work fast to stop the murder from getting out scott-free.**

Chapter 1: The Final Play

A goat wearing a green football jersey with '39' in blue numbers and the name 'Gruff' spelled out in blue dodged to the side of a bear wearing a yellow jersey with lighter yellow numbers and lettering. The bear did a 180 whirl and followed after the goat holding the football to himself like gold. The announcer screamed out the yard lines the goat player passed, excitement building through out the field.

"Go! Go! Go!" Vector screamed, cheering Gruff on.

"Ruuuuuuuun!" Charmy yelled, buzzing out of his seat and hovering just over it. Espio placed a hand on his mouth to stifle a yawn; the fans around him could cover for his lack of excitement at the game. Gruff passed the fifty yard line and seemed to be moving faster, the bear right on the goat's heels. The bear's team seemed to move in a blob of color. Espio tried to think of the teams he was watching. _'I think the Yellow ones were…Mushroom Hill Destroyers…'_ He finally concluded. _'Which means the green ones must be Special Zone Runners…Chaos, these people need better names…'_ The chameleon's thoughts were stopped short by the sudden flurry of green that suddenly shot up next to him, whooping and cheering. Charmy flipped in the air, joining Vector's celebration as Gruff made a touchdown. The male chameleon couldn't say he was excited as the others in the stadium. He looked around for a distraction, which happened to be the sky. Judging the colors that had started to appear, Espio guessed it was sometime in the early evening, and the chill in the air was already making him drowsy. Now with the third quarter of the game ending, he only had to sit through one more before forgetting this whole game. At least, that's what he was hoping for.

**OoOoO**

The final seconds of the game ticked away rapidly as Gruff, the same player as before, pushed forward down the field. It was apparent to everyone that the goat was Special Zone's star player. Vector and Charmy had joined the crowd in their chant of 'run!' Even Espio felt a very small knot of excitement and anxiety form as he nonchalantly watched the player run. The last ten seconds of the game and Gruff still had a whole ten yards to go. A tiger dressed in a green attire came up next to Gruff, it looked like he was saying something to him, but it was ignored by the goat. The bear from before was again on Gruff's tail, more determined than ever since the game had started. The screaming and chanting increased, urging the player forward. With a single second left in the game, Special Zone fans sprung from their seats, cheering and whooping. Espio had also jumped up, he realized, and quickly seated himself as the announcer spoke in a loud, exhilarated tone.

"And it's over!" he bellowed, "The Runners win again!" The crowd responded with loud cheering and whistling as the goat appeared on the big screen, doing a small victor dance and slamming the football into the ground. It bounced a couple times before it was completely ignored by the winning team. By then, most of the players had thrown off their helmets and surrounded the goat whom had just scored the winning points. A blob of green and blue had formed on the field, clapping the goat on the back and jumping happily. There was a small flash from somewhere in the air, The chameleon dismissed it as a camera flash. Gruff's face showed an expression that beat the excitement of any in the crowd and his team. But it quickly dropped into a look of numb surprise, which the seated ninja noticed immediately. Still showing on the screen, the star player collapsed forward and into his teammates, who instantly caught him, not understanding his actions until the small dagger was seen sticking out from the back of his head.

**Okay, the colors for the teams we made up on random selection, so if a real football team DOES happen to have the same colors, it's not the same team, alright? Second, the next chapter should be up sometime tomorrow...I'm hoping. other then that, enjoy**


	7. And So It Begins

**Gah! I'm so sorry this took so long to post, It's just been hectic for a while and I never really got around to finishing up this chapter. But things are slower now, so I should be able to post faster. Also, to people concserned about _OC Heroes_ I'm starting that up again, though it'll take a while to write and post. I've gotta re-write the entire chapter I had been working on before I lost access on my other computer. So yeah, be on the look out for that one too. Anyways, I'm gonna shut now, so enjoy**

Chapter 2: And So It Begins

One by one, the people quieted down, seeing the screen that showed what had happened to the goat. A peacock from the team cried out and rushed to a phone. The Chaotix stood in silence with the crowd before regaining their senses and quickly descended the concrete stairway to the first row of seats and effortlessly swinging over the side and getting over to the fallen football player. A tough-looking, grey wolf-dog walked with heavy steps toward the Chaotix.

"Hey!" he growled at the three, "No fans on the field!"

"It's alright, we're detectives." Espio responded coolly showing a badge to the wolf-dog. At the word 'detectives' audience members muttered amongst themselves, the word 'murder' coming up the most among them and the three were admittedly proud to hear a few utters of 'Chaotix' and words of admiration to them among both the humans and mobians. The grey mobian was about to speak again when a brown raccoon in a blue business suit slipped between the players and over to the four. He seemed nervous; his scarlet eyes darted between the Chaotix and the wolf-dog.

"What's going on? What happened?" the raccoon asked in a shaky voice.

Vector looked down to the body of Billy Gruff, the victim, "A player was murdered." He answered. "Who're you?"

"Everyone just calls me 'Coach'. I'm the team's coach and manager." Coach replied. He shook his head in distress, "Murder? But why!? How? By who!?"

"We don't know. But we'll find out." Espio answered.

"And who're you three?" the wolf-dog demanded, glaring at the three. Only Charmy backed down from the glare.

"We're the Chaotix." Vector said, jabbing a thumb proudly to his chest. "And who're you?

"My friends call me Sly." Sly answered crossly.

Charmy looked around and noticed how quickly the seats were emptying while his team spoke with the other mobians. The little bee buzzed over to his older crocodile friend.

"Vector, people are leaving." He said quietly, "Shouldn't we get them to stay?"

Vector shook his head after a moment of thought, "It's fine, Charmy." He assured the bee. Vector turned back to Coach, "Do you mind if we look around for clues?" he asked.

"No, of course not. Go right ahead." The raccoon answered quickly. "The team would be happy to help you in your investigation." The Runners nodded and muttered words of agreement.

"Good. Because we'll have to question everyone." Espio said, crossing his arms coolly.

**OoOoO**

There were a total of 23 mobians on the team and 12 humans. Making the interviews a long few hours of work. Coach and Sly seemed to be having difficulty remembering where they were and what they had seen, not to mention the opposing team that they also had to interview.

"I dunno what happened, I wasn't watching them celebrate." The bear that had followed Gruff so closely before said in a bitter tone. "Are you saying I killed Billy?"

"Well, you did follow pretty closely." Espio said matter-of-factly. The bear growled at the smaller chameleon. He stood roughly a foot taller, Espio judged. "And you constantly went after Gruff, even when others were covering him."

"So?" The bear growled.

"So, one begins to wonder…given the circumstances." There was a silence before Espio spoke again. "You never told me your name."

"Sunny." He murmured a hint of shame in his voice. Espio blinked and held back the smirk that wanted to show on his muzzle. "It's because I'm a sun bear." Sunny explained quickly.

"Right…Sunny. So, why _were_ you following so closely to Gruff?" Espio asked.

"I dunno I didn't even know the guy until we played this game." He gestured to a green raccoon in a similar jersey. "He does all the checking on other teams. I don't even listen to him most the time."

"Really? Then how did you know Gruff's first name?"

Sunny's eyes widened slightly, he quickly stuttered out an answer. "I-I heard it from…from the guy I was talking about earlier."

"But didn't you just stay you never listened to him?" Sunny growled again and grabbed tightly to the ninja's shoulders and lifted him to eye level. The chameleon only smirked; obviously the player had given a clue without knowing. Before it was too late, anyways. "Well?" he asked expectantly, still dangling a foot off the ground. "How did you know Billy Gruff's first name?"

The sun bear's look faltered, seeing the intimidation didn't work and dropped Espio, who landed softly. "We were friends in high school…and sorta through collage." He admitted, running a hand through his matted down fur.

"Sorta?" Espio encouraged.

"We both joined the team." Sunny explained, "And then we got competitive when we both had the same position. I always matched him, no matter what. But he was always the one on the field while I was stuck on the bench." Espio nodded, signaling the bear to go on. "We both tried to get on the Runners, but only Gruff made it. So I had to settle for the next best."

"I see how that could make one mad." Espio nodded. "We'll need you to stay here, at least until this is all figured out." Espio abruptly turned and started off, listening to Sunny curse Billy Gruff for past events.

**OoOoO**

Coach's eyes flicked around the field, darting from player to player talking with the police that had arrived only minutes ago.

"Uh, Coach?" Vector's voice brought his attention back to the croc. "Did ya hear me?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"Uh, no, I'm sorry. What was the question?" he said quickly.

Vector resisted the urge to slug the smaller mobian, and repeated his question, "Where were you when Billy was killed?"

"Um…what time was it?" the raccoon countered.

"I dunno…just after the game ended."

"Then I was probably standing by the team. I'm always by them just before the game ends."

"And you didn't see anything suspicious?"

He shook his head furiously. "No, nothing…is…is it okay if I go now?"

"Sure. Go ahead, just don't leave the stadium." Vector nodded, waving a hand toward the raccoon. Just as Coach turned to go, Vector heard a quiet _clink_ from somewhere in Coach's suit. "Uh, Coach?" Vector said again. Coach froze suddenly, "Sounded like you're hidin' something." He said.

Coach turned around to face Vector, he was sweating bullets. "W-Well, I…I do carry a weapon or two with me. But only for protection! I'm a very important people, and more than once I've been attacked." He answered quickly.

"Then you wouldn't mind showing me what you brought with you." Vector answered.

"Of course not." Coach brought out a small dagger for the oldest detective to see.

**Anyone think it's Coach? Anyone think I'm just being sneaky and it's someone else? XD Interviewing doesn't stop there, a few more people are gonna be questioned in the next chapter, so keep looking around for the clues! and I'll be updating as much as possible.**


	8. Who's Lying

**Fast update, woo-hoo! I'm guessing maybe one or two chapters after this one, then onto the next case!**

Chapter 3: Who's Lying?

Vector automatically tensed, watching the dagger and it's owner.

"That's just like the one we found in the victim, ya know." He said.

Coach nodded, "I know. That's why I was so reluctant to show you at first. But I promise you, I didn't kill Billy, I was by the team, so I couldn't have." By the expression on his face, he seemed to second guess his reasoning. "Right?"

"I…I guess so…" Vector shrugged, it seemed to make sense. And someone would have seen him throw the dagger. Not to mention the Special Zone team was on the opposite side of the field then where the dagger had come from.

The raccoon seemed relieved, now assured and went with another police man. Charmy flew up next to Vector after glancing at Coach.

"Why's he wearing that suit?" the little bee asked.

Vector shrugged. "It's a manager thing." He answered simply.

"Then why don't you wear a suit?"

"Because, he's not a manager." Espio's voice cut into the conversation.

"Yes he is! He's the Agency's manager!" Charmy argued.

"No he's not. He's not even the boss." Espio chuckled.

"He's more a boss than you are!"

"Aren't managers and bosses the same thing?" Vector cut in, hoping to stop the fight before it started. Both Espio and Charmy went silent, thinking about the question.

"I guess…" Espio said finally. The chameleon's phone suddenly buzzed to life, playing an unfamiliar tune. The chameleon looked down at the number, a familiar name flashed across the screen. Kaity's call would have to wait. The ninja let the message go to voicemail as he listened to his boss.

"But if Coach is a boss and wears a suit, how come the other manager doesn't?" Charmy asked, pointing to a tiger wearing a jacket that reflected the team he supported. The tiger's tail flicked suddenly, as if he knew he was being watched. "He said he managed his team too, and he was the coach."

"Then I dunno." Vector answered. "Did ya talk to him?"

Charmy nodded, "Yeah." Charmy went on to explain what he had asked the tiger and how he had responded. "He said he was talking with the wolf-dog guy-"

"You mean Sly?" Espio asked, crossing his arms.

Charmy nodded, "Yeah, Sly. He said the team was talking about how the other team had cheated and Sly and the coach were friends from school."

"Then I'll go talk to Sly." Vector said at last. "Espio, go talk with someone from the Mushroom Hill team. Charmy, go ask the Special Zone players some questions." The two nodded and went to the team they were told to question.

Vector approached the Wolf-dog he was looking for. "Hey Sly!" he called over to him, getting the mobian's attention.

"What?" Sly retorted with a slight growl

"I wanted to ask you a few questions."

"Fine. But make it quick, so other cop was saying something about asking me questions when she got back."

"Don't worry, it'll be fast." The croc assured. "Where were you when this all happened?"

"I was talking with Benny, the Destroyer's coach."

"So, ya know him."

"We go way back. We were talking for most of the game. It'd been years since we'd seen each other."

"Heh, I know how that is." Vector thought back to when Mighty had come back for a few days, they had all spent a while catching up and talking. "Did you see Coach at any time?"

"Nah, he just disappeared when the fourth quarter started. I didn't see him until after Gruff got killed."

"Did you look over by the team?"

"You kiddin? That's the first place I looked. He's always standing by them, it's like they're his bodyguards or something. Which would be kind of weird, that guy's got mad skills with a dagger."

Vector locked that last bit of information away, just incase. "But was Coach by the team?" he pressed.

"Nah, Chaos knows where that guy went." Sly said and was pulled away by a female officer. Vector thought over what he had found out. "Hmm…that's very interesting." He nodded.

**OoOoO**

Espio spoke with the peacock that had called the police. But the chameleon was still trying to remember the peacock's name.

"So, what'd you say your name was?" Espio asked again, this guy talked too fast sometimes. "Slower, this time."

The player took a breath and repeated his full name, slower. "Pedro Robert Ivan Dan Evan the Peacock." He said at last. Espio smirked; the initials for each name gave him the name 'Pride the Peacock'. "But everyone calls me Pride 'cause of all my names…I could never figure out why." Obviously the peacock wasn't too sharp. (A/N: Yes, it's possible to have more than three names.)

"Would you mind if I just called you 'Pride'?" Espio asked.

Pride shook his head. "No. I've gotten pretty used to it, so it's fine."

"Just before the game ended, did you happen to see Coach standing by the team?"

"Nuh-uh, I don't know where he went." Pride answered. "Probably went off to throw a couple daggers around." The peacock saw Espio's sudden interest at this and went on. "Coach's pretty good with dagger throwing and stuff. He said he used to challenge his friends to see who could hit the smallest target. He always won."

Espio thought this over before asking his next question. "And where were you when this happened?"

"I was almost behind Gruff." A sudden thought must have suddenly come to the mobian. "If I'd been over just an inch…that would've been me…" He glanced at the white sheet spread over the victim and seemed to go pale under his feathers. "Um…e-excuse me…" he said quickly leaving the chameleon standing by himself. With an uncaring shrug, Espio looked for Vector in the crowd of police men and football players being questioned.

**OoOoO**

Charmy didn't seem to have too hard a job, the player he was talking too, a black alligator, seemed to notice all the details around him.

"I was just walking past the thirty yard line, talking with Emerald." He gestured to a green raccoon that was sauntering about on the side lines.

"What were you talking about?" Charmy asked; a natural child's curiosity that had nothing to do with the murder.

"Just stuff." The player shrugged. "We weren't as upset about losing as the others were."

"How upset were they?"

"Just sayin' stuff like Gruff had to be using some sort of drug to be running like that. Just stuff to make them feel better about losing. I'm not such a poor sport like them." The alligator chuckled quietly. A brown panther dressed in an S.S.P.D. uniform quietly asked the alligator to come with him, which the player politely obliged to.

Charmy quickly flew over to the raccoon who had been dubbed 'Emerald'. The raccoon turned as he heard his name called out in a high-pitched voice. He smiled at the little bee.

"Hey, sport, what'cha need?" he greeted.

"I gotta ask you a few questions, okay?" The little bee explained his voice cheery as ever.

"Go for it."

"Where were you at when the Gruff guy was killed?"

Emerald thought for a moment. "I think I was talking with Cole." (A/N: Get it? Cole sounds like coal 'cause he's black and…Yeah…I'm bad with names…sorry.) "And I saw that wolf-dog guy from the other team talking with our coach, so I guess they were friends."

"What about Coach? The other teams' manager." Charmy added the last part quickly to make more sense of the question.

The green raccoon thought for a moment, tugging on the loosed ends of his yellow jersey. "Um…I saw him leave just after the third quarter ended, but I didn't see him after that. No, I saw him come down the stairs in the audience after Gruff got hit in the noggin' with the little knife thing."

"The dagger?" Charmy corrected.

"Yeah, the dagger." Emerald looked over to a red robin that had called his name, obviously on the same team, giving the yellow jersey he was wearing, and nodded toward the robin. "I gotta go, kid. If ya need me for anything else, come find me, okay?" The raccoon left to join the robin as Charmy flew quickly to tell Vector and Espio what he had heard. And he had a feeling he had just solved the case.

**Anyone wanna guess who it was? Since I'm starting up with _OC Heroes_ again, these may have longer lack-of-updating periods then they already do...**


	9. The Final Play: SOLVED!

**Yep, I had to cut this case a little shorter than the last, I had ideas for it, but they disappeared sometime during the week...and I can't think of anything I was gonna do with this chapter...**

Chapter 4: The Final Play: SOLVED

Charmy found the older two reptiles talking. As the bee approached, he heard bits of conversation about the case and what they had found. And still proving his theory right. The bee interrupted by flying through at high speeds, his discovery feeding more energy into him, and using Vector as a crash pad.

"Vector! Vector! Vector!" The bee squealed, "I figured it out! I know who dunnit!" The reptiles watched the bee, their eyes demanding an answer. But Charmy stayed quiet "Get everyone together and I'll tell ya!" he said giddily, flying off from the duo.

**OoOoO**

Charmy could hardly hold back his excitement. So this was what it felt like to solve a case! Positively giddy, the bee flew out in front of his crowd of curious mobians and humans.

"I know who the murderer is!" he announced straight off. A mutter erupted from the crowd. He heard Espio mutter something to their older friend, and earned himself a glare and cuff on the back of his hot purple head. "It was Coach!" the bee blurted out, forgetting the long explanation of proof he had previously planned to subject his audience to before revealing the killer's identity.

Coach jumped to his own defense quickly, "Why would I do that?" he demanded, "Gruff was the best player I had!"

"I don't exactly know why." The bee said in an equally happy voice. Vector suddenly found a blade of grass interesting and stared down at it. Espio's hands covered his face and disappeared all together. Charmy found this discouraging. "But- But I have proof!" he added to his statement. All eyes except his team's stayed on him, it was sort of uncomfortable for the little bee.

"And what would that be?" Coach asked, ushering the bee to explain himself.

"W-well…You're good with daggers and stuff…and you weren't by your team when the game was ending." The bee started, feeling the pressure to impress the crowd. A green snout lifted, a hot purple reptile came back into view, both had eyes set on their friend.

The happy feeling came back. "An-and I heard Vector tell Espio Coach was carrying around a dagger in his coat pocket. And Espio said he had seen a flash of something after Gruff had won the game."

Coach tensed and pressured the bee with more questions, "But what about Sly? Wasn't he near Gruff when this all happened!?"

"No. He was talking with the other coach." The bee said calmly, "He's got witnesses." He pointed at the raccoon, "And you're a liar. You said you were by the team, but you weren't!" At this point, the two reptilian detectives walked nonchalantly over to stand by Coach; should he try and run.

It was Coach's turn to feel pressure; his mouth opened, trying to find a response, but nothing came. "I-" His explanation was cut short by Espio.

"And come to think of it…you didn't come over as fast as everyone else did." He said sneakily.

"Actually, you arrived a few minutes later, when Sly was trying to get us off the field." Vector added, laying a heavy hand on the mammal. The shine of handcuffs dangled from Espio's index finger.

"How-how could I've hit Gruff from off the field? Even if I'm good with throwing daggers, it's-"

"Espio said that peacock told 'im that you could hit really tiny targets with daggers." Charmy countered. No sooner had the bee spoken these words did Coach, furious and set on getting away, lunged at the bee. Charmy reeled back and narrowly escaped the dagger stretched out for him. A blur of green suddenly held the raccoon coach down while Espio slapped on handcuffs. The police took over from there, reading Coach his rights and leading the still struggling raccoon out to a police unit.

Vector clapped Charmy lightly on the back; "Good work, kiddo." He grinned. Espio only smirked at the bee, Charmy took it as approval.

"Though we really didn't get a reason for it…" Espio said, flipping out his cell phone and dialing the chameleon who had called before.

"Hello?" The chameleon girl answered after the third ring.

"Hey, you called earlier, you okay?"

"Yeah, there was a double homicide case I had ta solve. Where were you?"

"We were solving our own case."

"What!? At the game?"

Espio smirked, she obviously didn't expect that. "Yeah, I'll tell you all about it when we get back to the Agency."

"M'kay. Bye."

"Bye." Espio hung up and looked over to Vector and Charmy. "Looks like Kaity had her own case to solve. She'll explain the details when we get back to the Agency."

**Okay, now that this case is done, I'm gonna take a break from this one for a while and focus more on getting _OC Heroes_ started again.**


	10. A Mighty Vine Theft

**Yes! Finally an update and new story! I wanted another story for this, but I couldn't quite find a good way to start it off...Anyways, copyrights; Espio, Vector, and Charmy (C)- SEGA and Kaity the Chameleon (C) me.**

**Summery: The Chaotix are summoned to solve a case of robbery...only it seems like nothing was stolen. From their client, the detectives gather that a robbery _did_ happen, but the stolen object, a family heirloom, was returned before authorities could arrive. If it really is robbery, perhaps it was a mistake? Or did the theif have something else in mind?**

Chapter 1: A Mighty Vine Theft

"And then Rose jumps me and starts stranglin' me. Then Amy tried ta get 'er off, but Jack threw Amy off and Rouge ended up savin' me, though I fell into a row of seats, but that's beside the point. I'm not really sure what happened for a while, I think I passed out for a while, but I remember cuffin' Jack and Rouge knockin' Rose out. And that's 'bout it." Kaity finished her re-telling of her case.

"Not bad detective work." Espio said, opening one golden eye from his place against a wall. "Even without our help, you found the criminals."

The younger chameleon nodded, "So, you haven't told me 'bout your little case." She looked over at Espio, expecting the story.

"He'll have to tell you later." Vector interrupted, walking into the Chaotix Detective Agency. "We just got a case." Both chameleons looked at the bigger reptile with interest. "He's gonna explain on the way, hurry up, his limo's waiting outside.

Both chameleons spoke in simultaneous surprise "Limo?" They spared only a second glancing at each other; obviously they had just gotten a wealthy client. The chameleons followed after Vector to a sleek, black limo waited out front. Charmy was already looking at everything within his reach as Espio and Kaity sat down in the limo.

"Whoa! What's this do? What's that? Vector, look at this! What's it do? Oooh, a TV!" the youngest detective looked eagerly around the limo, and settled on the TV which was changed to cartoons for the little bee. A middle-aged hound dog smiled at the little bee, and turned his attention to the three, more mature detectives.

"I'm sorry to bring this on you at such short notice, but it's a rather important matter." The dog began.

Vector shook his head with a smile, "It's no problem, now, what's this…artifact you were saying about?"

"Oh, yes, it's an heirloom of my family; it dates back to times of B.C.E."

Vector whistled, "Wow, and it hasn't fallen apart yet?"

The hound chuckled at the obvious joke, "No, no, it's actually in a stable condition. Worth very much on the market." The hound handed Vector a picture of the item in question; a necklace. A gold chain attached to an impressive amount of diamonds, crystals, emeralds, sapphires, and rubies, all dangling freely from their chain. The three reptiles stared at the picture in awe.

"That's a lotta gems…" Kaity murmured counting how many of each gem on the necklace. Three of each precious stone, twelve in all.

"Yes, there are a lot on the necklace, which is why I so proudly display it in my study. I'd always felt it was safe there, I spend so many hours in there, no thief would have time to come in unnoticed and steal it. But somehow, someone did."

"And you called the police, but they dismissed the case...you haven't told us why they dismissed it." Vector said, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"Well, I called the police as soon as my maid told me she saw someone going off with my heirloom. But when the police got there, the necklace was right there in its place."

"And the police assumed the thief had put it back." Espio added matter-of-factly

The old hound nodded, "Yes, it's the oddest thing. No security alarms were set off either during the robbery, and we have such a high-tech security system."

The Chaotix looked at one another, already the case was getting interesting. "We'll have to look around before gettin' to any sure answers." Vector answered, seeing the bloodhound open his mouth to ask a question. The limo drove up to an iron gate, clearly new, and down a smooth driveway before coming to a stop.

The hound nodded, "Very well, come in." The old dog stepped out, followed by the Chaotix after a few moments of trying to pry Charmy away from the TV.

**OoOoO**

"I don't think we ever got your name." Kaity said, as they entered through a pair of French doors and into a well-sized white mansion.

"Oh, yes, forgive my rudeness, my name is Edmund Hound." Edmund answered. A young bloodhound boy came around the corner in a hurry, hearing the older dog's voice.

"Uncle Edmund!" the boy said cheerily, hugging the hound. "Mindy said you were getting detectives to investigate. Are these them?" he asked, looking back the four detectives.

"They are." The older dog smiled, petting the bloodhound. He turned to the Chaotix, "This is my nephew, Thomas." He introduced.

Thomas smiled at the four. "Hello. I hope you can find out who tried to take Uncle Edmund's necklace before they come back for it."

The oldest detective gave a small smile and turned back to their client. "Where do ya keep the necklace?"

"In my study. This way, please." He answered, leading the detective up a flight of stairs and down a hallway carpeted with an intricate design of interweaving vines on a red background. "Mindy, my maid, saw the robber, perhaps she could be of help to you?"

Vector nodded and entered the study Edmund took the team of four to. An automatic instinct made both chameleons gravitate toward the necklace in question, looking over it carefully.

"I'll have Mindy come up right away." Edmund Hound said, leaving the group to their business. Charmy watched the older hound leave and Thomas come up. The bloodhound was staring at the ground, stepping only on the red between interwoven vines of ivy on the carpet. Charmy watched curiously, he flew over to the little canine.

"What're you doing?" he asked.

Thomas looked up, suddenly embarrassed of the habit. "It's sort of a thing I need to do…" he explained, looking back down to the floor and weaving through carefully. "I can't really help it…every time I come down this hall, I can't step on a vine. My uncle made a rhyme for it; step on a vine, count to nine."

Charmy chuckled, "Lucky for me, I fly everywhere."

**OoOoO**

Back in the study, Vector and Kaity combed the room for anything that would give away any detail of the thief's identity. Espio stood in front of the door, scanning to room carefully. _'A place for everything and everything in its place.'_ He thought, scanning the neatly shelved books, stacked papers and filed documents.

"So we're assuming the motive was robbery?" Kaity asked flicking through a file cabinet filled with various boarding school brochures in it.

"Seems like the only one right now." Vector nodded. Espio moved from his place by the door and studied the books on the shelves, multiple books on spine mending; which would explain how so many old titles were in perfect shape on the bookshelf, several medical books, books on poisonous creatures and a majority of fiction stories.

"Mr. Hound certainly loved to read." Espio smirked. His golden eyes cast down to a notebook that had been carelessly thrown on an easy chair in the study. It looked old, obviously someone had looked through it a number of times during the years. With a quick hand, Espio grabbed and hid the notebook to look through later.

"Hey guys." Kaity said, turning from the necklace they had been sent to investigate. "This isn't the same necklace."

**If you think really hard about it (Or not so hard XD) You can already tell how the theif is, but maybe not a motive yet.**


	11. A Family Trait

**Yay! a seemingly long chapter! Now I wonder if anyone can figure who the who, and why?(I'll give you a cyber cookie if you can.)**

Chapter 2: A Family Trait

Vector was in front of the female in two swift steps.

"What do ya mean, 'This isn't the same necklace'?" he asked, looking past her to the necklace mentioned.

"Exactly what it sounds like." The chameleon answered, gesturing to the necklace, "True, it looks like the real one, but this one's made of fake gems and plastic made ta look like gold."

Espio joined the other two reptiles in looking at the necklace. "She's right, the jewels on here could've been bought at any craft store. Same goes for the chain."

"At least we know how observant our client is." Vector muttered to himself. "So the necklace really was stolen and switched with a duplicate. Now we need to figure out _who_ switched the necklaces."

"It's gotta be someone who's close to Edmund." Espio reasoned. "Otherwise someone with a photographic memory and superb sneaking skills."

"I don't think anyone's good enough to get around the kinda security Mr. Hound's got."

"I didn't look at it, how good is it?" Kaity asked.

Vector took her over to a wide window over-looking the yard and pointed out everything he could see. "Attack dogs that, while I'm guessing are muzzled and caged durin' the day, are probably let out after a certain time every night. Cameras over-looking ever point in the yard-"

"We don't know that for a fact." Espio said, his back turned from the duo, flipping through the little book he had before snatched up.

"Okay, I'm assuming they look all over the yard. Front and back." The last part was added as soon as the youngest reptile opened her mouth. "And there's a line of motion detectors, and heat sensors and no one can go low enough, or high enough to get past."

"Then it could be a chameleon. We _are_ pretty good at gettin' past that kinda stuff." Kaity said smugly.

Vector shook his head, and pointed to a black box hiding behind a fountain in the yard. "That's an anti-chameleon system. No way anyone or anything can get through there."

"What if they climbed the fence and jumped to a window?" Espio asked, still scanning over the notebook.

"I saw some kinda warning sign on the gate while we were talking with Mr. Hound when we got here. I'm assuming it was warning about high-voltage."

"Wow, with all the security this guy's got, ya'd think 'e's actually paranoid 'bout somethin'. Kaity said, looking over the yard. "And this window could be used too. Say Mr. Hound's up late, 'e could see anyone sneak into the yard."

"Now that we've decided it wasn't someone they don't know, we may need to look into friends that come around frequently." Vector said.

A female voice came from the doorway suddenly. "Excuse me, sir, Mr. Hound asked me to speak with you." She said in a clear, but meek voice. Kaity and Vector turned from their conversation to look at her, Espio hid the notebook once again to look at the new comer. "My name is Mindy. I'm the maid." She said, her voice seemed to get quieter with all the attention on her. Mindy was a snow white poodle in a black dress with a white apron attached to it; the kind of clothing one would expect a maid to wear.

Vector nodded hurriedly, "Right. Mr. Hound said you saw what happened. Is that right?"

"That's correct, sir." Midny nodded, he face seemed to pale a little at the mention of the robbery.

"Can ya tell us what ya saw?" the green croc asked, taking out a notebook to scribble down what the maid was about to tell them.

"I-I suppose…" She sat down in one of the chairs in the study and took a deep breath before starting. "It was late…I'm not sure what time it was, but Mr. Hound had already gone off to bed. I was checking through the house one last time before I left, a habit of mine, and I when I went down this hall, I noticed that the door to the study was open. Mr. Hound always keeps his study closed when he isn't there, and I had seen him retire to his room for the night, so I went over to shut the door, thinking that Mr. Hound had forgotten to close it. But when I got there, I noticed something moving over by Mr. Hound's necklace." She paused to take a breath, clutching the arm of her chair. "I went in to see who or what it was. And as soon as I got close, it started running away. Whoever it was pushed me down on they way out. By the time I recovered and ran out after the thief, he was already going down the hall…but…" the white poodle paused, as if debating if she should continue or not.

"But…?" Vector prompted the maid.

"But they way he went down the hall was odd."

"How so?" Espio asked.

"He was looking down when he ran, like he was trying not to step on something."

"Why didn't ya go after 'im?" Kaity asked.

The poodle looked down at her feet for a moment. "I…I don't know…" she answered finally. "When I looked back for the necklace, it was gone. I immediately went to Mr. Hound and told him and he phoned the police about a robbery."

"But when the police got here, the necklace was back in its place." Espio finished.

"Yes." Mindy nodded. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been more help to you, detectives."

Vector shook his head, "Actually, ya helped us more then you know." The female dog looked at the crocodile with a kind smile. She stood up and went for the door. "Uh, Mindy."

"Yes, sir?"

"When the police came, did Mr. Hound turn off all the security?" he asked.

Mindy nodded. "Yes sir. About ten minutes before they arrived, Mr. hound told me to recall the dogs and turn off the security so the police could come in with problem."

"And are there any people you can think of that come here often?"

"…No sir, only every now and then does Mr. hound have company over. Though I have seen someone standing by the gate every now and then. They walk away when they see me watching. I've told Mr. Hound about it, and he's always said to pay the man no mind."

"Okay, that's all. Thank you." Vector said with a nod. Mindy left the three alone once again. "So, what's in that notebook you've been readin', Espio?" The male chameleon jumped slightly, jerking a glance toward the older detective. Vector grinned, one of the few times he's ever gotten a rise out of his too calm friend. "You're pretty sneaky, Espio, but not all the time."

Espio uttered something to himself and revealed the notebook he had been hiding. "It's 's notebook. It looks like notes and a few journal entries. But the interesting thing is an entry dated about five years ago." The hot purple chameleon flipped to a page in the notebook and read it to the other two:

'_It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Slipping my dear brother the drug was the easiest part. The hardest part was retaining my anticipation when that idiot would finally stop his talking and take a drink. Though he's a bloodhound, supposedly the best at tracking drugs and Mobians, the fool was stone drunk and never noticed how the taste of his drink had changed. Words cannot describe how much pleasure I took in watching him die, he fell like a lead ball to the ground. Most of the guests assumed he had passed out from too much drink. Heehee! What a clever trick, if I do say so myself. Of course, I played the role of responsible younger brother and made an attempt to wake him up, asking for assistance in taking Spike to a room to better rest comfortably. Next I had to rid any evidence of the drug ever being present, which led to an early clean up on my part. Of course Mindy washed the dishes straight away when I told her they were piling up at a rather alarming rate. By the time anyone actually found out Spike was dead; the evidence had already been washed away, gone forever. Heehee! What fun it was to act like a shocked and scarred little brother and see guests ramble frantically to insist they had no knowledge Spike had died. Thanks to my clever planning, the police chalked it up as a suicide by over dosage. And now; the family fortune, AND that beautiful heirloom, are with their proper owner.'_

Espio looked up at Kaity and Vector. The crocodile had a look of shock on his face. Kaity's face didn't show expression, but Espio could see the look of disgust reflected in her eyes. "Before anyone says anything, there's another entry you should hear." The ninja said, flipping past a few pages of notes and skimming another passage to be sure it was the correct page.

'_Spike's will asked me to watch over his boy, Thomas, should he die before he's old enough to be on his own. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought of the young boy's future and what this would do to him. So I took him in as my own, moving from my own home into Spike's mansion to keep Thomas in familiar surroundings and schools. As I know from experience, parting with dear things is hard, and since I killed his father, I felt it only fair to keep him in one place, a place he knew.'_

"Well, how nice." Kaity growled sarcastically, "Kill the kid's dad for everythin' 'e's got and care 'bout how the kid feels 'bout movin'."

"If these were five years ago…Thomas looked about eight or nine, so that means Thomas was about three or four when this happened."

"And I bet ya anythin' Edmund was plannin' on sendin' the kid away." When the two males gazed at her with questioning looks, she went over to the filing cabnet from before and pulled out a brochure at random. She brought it back and handed it to Espio. "Look. It says they gotta be at least ten ta attend the boarding school. He's got a bunch of 'em filed away."

"He must have been planning this for about two years." Espio pondered, studying the pamphlet.

"Two years?" Vector questioned, what makes ya say that?"

"Another entry I found basically says that Edmund is beginning to fear for his own safety because Thomas was asking too many questions about his father. Not to mention a mysterious character lurking around outside the gate."

"Okay, that sort of answers our question…but who stole the necklace is the question right now." Vector said, crossing his arms in thought. At the moment, Charmy flew through the door, followed by Thomas, who continued his habit until the vine carpet turned into the creamy white carpeting of the study.

"Did you find out who stole my uncle's necklace?" the young blood hound asked, looking up at the large crocodile.

"Um, not yet, kiddo." Vector answered, offering a smile. "Could ya go get your uncle for me? We gotta ask him a few questions."

Thomas eagerly nodded. "Of course." He went back into the hall, performing the strange ritual of avoiding every vine on the way to the staircase.

Once the boy was gone, Vector turned to Charmy. "What've you been?" he asked with almost a hiss.

Charmy frowned, he knew he was in trouble. "Thomas was showin' me the stuff in his room." The bee's tone brightened, "He's got this _huge_ baseball card collection, Vector. And a lot of 'em are signed too! And he's got this awesome stereo and a sound system all around his room, and a really big flat screen T.V. and a DVD player, and-"

Vector put on huge hand over Charmy's tiny muzzle. "Okay, okay. I get the point.

"What an odd habit." Espio said from the doorway.

"That's what we call an 'idiosyncrasy'." Kaity retorted, a knowing grin across her muzzle. "It's like 'e's tryin' not ta step on somethin'."

**Dang, I think this one may just have three chapters to it. Unless I can stretch it out a little more. But there's a lot of the evidence in here, so take a guess at who and why. (Extra cyber cookies if you can tell me _how_ the theif got their motive it's all there, ya just gotta piece it all together).**


	12. A Mighty Vine Theft: SOLVED!

**Yep, one more case ended. (My shortest case ever XD) And I'll be taking a break from this story to work on _OC Heroes_ without having to worry about updating this one as often. I apologize for the shortness of this...Anyways, enjoy!**

Chapter 3: A Mighty Vine Theft: SOLVED

Edmund Hound entered the study where the Chaotix sat waiting.

"Thomas said you needed my help with something?" he said as he walked in.

Vector nodded. "We wanted to ask ya a few questions."

"Like why you've got all this security." Espio said, "It seems you went overkill on it, like you're trying to keep someone out."

"Or keep someone in." Kaity added.

Edmund stiffened slightly, "I only want to be sure things are safe for Thomas at all times." He answered.

"And that's why you're sendin' 'im away ta boardin' school?" Kaity responded, showing their client one of the brochures they had found.

"Or was it because he was getting suspicious of something that you did in the past? Like, say, murder your brother?" Espio said, a satisfied smirk coming to his face at the dog's reaction. Espio showed Edmund the little notebook he had been previously been reading out of. "You wrote down everything."

"Technically a confession ta the murder." Kaity added.

Edmund looked shamefully down at his feet. "He was a horrible mobian, my brother. Manipulative, greedy, lustful...I couldn't stand to see our family heirloom go with him. I remember my father telling stories of our ancestors when in possession of that necklace. 'Good fortune always smiled on them' he would say. That's the only reason Spike wanted it, to gain profit, and if the stories father told had been false; he would've sold it to make his money. I just couldn't have that happen." The team of detectives relaxed their guard; the hound clearly wouldn't be attacking them or making a run for the door. "When father left it Spike I was crushed. That necklace was like my only link to father. I didn't want to kill him, but for that necklace, I had to." A silent stream of tears broke onto the old dog's face. He looked at the ninja whom had shown him the notebook. "But how on Mobius did you find my notebook?"

"It was lying out. Unlike everything else in the room." Espio said. He took a moment to glance at Kaity and Charmy. "Kaity, could you and Charmy go get Mindy and Thomas? They'll want to hear what we've found out about the missing necklace."

Kaity nodded. "Sure." The youngest chameleon took Charmy from the room to find the other two mentioned.

"About the guy who's been sneakin' around outside. Who is he?" When a look of surprise crossed the dog's features, Vector added to his statement. "That's obviously who you're tryin' to keep out. To keep him from talking to Thomas, right? About what happened?"

Mr. Hound bit his lip, debating whether he should tell or not. At last he nodded. "He's a friend of Spike and Thomas' godfather. I didn't know he knew anything about the murder before I was getting phone calls threatening to tell the police. I knew he'd want Thomas for the price of his silence, but Thomas…I regret ever doing that to that poor boy. Growing up without a real father figure or mother, and over the years, I had grown fond of him. But then he started asking questions about what had happened to his father and I felt I had no choice but to send Thomas away."

Vector nodded, things made perfect sense now. Kaity came back into the room followed by Mindy, Thomas coming in shortly after, narrowly avoiding stepping on a vine.

"Where's Charmy?" Vector asked.

"Bathroom." Kaity said simply with a shrug.

"Then he can join us later." Vector said. "I think you'll all be happy to hear we know exactly who stole the necklace and why."

"And before you say anything, Mr. Hound, the necklace you have here is a fake." Espio added, seeing the client about to speak. He closed his mouth and nodded, waiting for the oldest detective to continue.

"Let's start when the crime happened; Mindy saw someone running down the hall in an odd way and immediately went to tell Mr. Hound correct?"

"Yes." Mindy nodded.

"But why not go after the thief? Obviously you could've caught him."

The poodle's ears flattened against her head, ducking here eyes to the ground. "I'm…not sure." She murmured. "Like I've told you before, detective."

Espio nodded. "That's exactly the point. But we know _why_ you didn't go after the thief. You've seen that habit before, in fact, probably everyday." The poodle's eyes remained on the ground.

"He couldn't help it at this point, right? What was that little rhyme Charmy told us?"

"Step on a vine, count ta nine." Kaity answered. "If 'e had stepped on any of the vine pattern, I bet 'e would've stopped ta count ta nine."

Edmund Hound looked up in complete surprise of the revelations. "But the only person that's ever done that is-"

"Thomas. Exactly." Espio nodded.

"Because it was Thomas who stole the necklace." Vector added. "And then replaced it with a fake he put together. It couldn't have been too hard, he'd seen it enough to memorize how it looked."

"And ya knew it was 'im as soon as ya saw how 'e ran down the hall, didn't ya, Mindy?" Kaity asked in a smug tone.

Mindy nodded. "Yes, I knew at once…but I didn't want to believe it."

"I didn't steal Uncle Edmund's necklace!" Thomas said suddenly, going on an instant defense of himself. "I have no reason to! Uncle Edmund's always been good to me."

"Yeah, until that lurker outside talked to ya about your father." Espio nodded. "Then you started asking questions."

"Which lead to Mr. Hound looking for somewhere else to send you to keep you from finding out the truth and keeping that guy away from you."

"Only he told you what had happened and told you to look into a certain notebook for the answers, and you did. You found out everything."

"That ya had been lied to your entire life." Kaity said matter-of-factly, "And ya were angry, so ya listened ta the guy outside and stole the necklace, I'm assuming it was ta run away and still have some money, and then replace it with a fake so your uncle would never know the difference."

Tears started to glitter in the bloodhound's eyes. "You-you have no proof." He started. A buzzing in the hall alerted everyone of the coming bee. As he entered, almost every eye was on what the bee was holding.

"Hey Kaity, I searched Thomas' room like ya told me to." The bee smiled. In his tiny hands was a gold necklace adorned with diamonds, crystals, emeralds, sapphires, and rubies. "It was in there, just like ya said."

Thomas' mouth suddenly dropped open, moving mechanically to explain how the little bee had found the heirloom hidden away in his room. Tears suddenly came freely to the young boy. He clung to Mindy and cried, muttering a quiet 'I'm sorry.' As he gasped for breath between his tears.

"We'll call the police and let them sort this out." Vector said, looking at Espio as a signal to call, the chameleon did as he had been instructed.

**Ohmigosh, it happened again! Someone figured it out down to the last detail! I hope she don't mind my posting it here, but that's just crazy cool how she did that.**

**_'Ooh, it's gotta be Thomas what with the way he walks down that hall! He must've found the diary-log-journal-thing or some other evidence that said his uncle killed his father all those years ago to get the necklace and everything else, which would also explain why the book was so carelessly out in the open; I doubt Edmund would be so careless with a book that could have him convicted of murder. I think Thomas stole it for his late father in a form of revenge. After seeing it for so long, he could probably easily make a nearly flawless replica, I bet, to throw everyone off. He probably never counted on Mindy seeing him though, nor the police getting involved, planning to just swipe the necklace and replace it so no one would ever be the wiser for a good while. X3'_**

**So, either I've got really smart friends or I'm doing something right in these stories.(I'm guess it's the first one) A lot of people were remarkably close to the answer, which makes me very happy. Okay, that's it for this story. I'll write and post the next story when I get to a good spot in _OC Heroes_.**


	13. The Crab and Whale Case

**How many people were suprised when they saw I updated? I actually shocked my self with this...it was a nice shock, though. Anyway, if you've ever watched Case Closed/ Detective Conan (which ever name you prefer), you might know this case and already know what's gonna happen. If not, then maybe you'll be suprised...unless you find the episode.^^ now, onto copyrights! the Chaotix (C) SEGA, Kaity the Chameleon (C) me and Dreamcast the Hedgefox, Candy the Chameleon and the Rogues' Detective Agency (C) Twilight the Gecko.**

**Summery: While celebrating another closed case, the Chaotix stumble on a hybrid who has a kidnapped friend. Now it's a race against time to find and save her before the kidnappers decide they no longer need their hostage to get what they want. And where in Station Square do you find a whale and crabs?**

Chapter 1: The Crab and Whale Case

It was a night to celebrate; a rich client had given them more then enough money to the rent on the Agency for months to come over a little missing dog case. The detectives of the Chaotix Detective Agency picked a simple restaurant, to hold their celebration, though. The green crocodile relaxed in the red-cushioned bench-seat as they waited for their orders.

"Never thought someone could go so crazy over a dog, eh, boys?" Vector chuckled.

The other three nodded, despite one of the trio spoken to being a girl, starting small stories about their case and occasionally chuckling at the armature work of the kidnapper. The girl, Kaity by name, looked around and noted the details of the diner. It looked out of place from the Earth they had come to know. The humans called it 'the 50s' A jukebox flashed with neon color on one side of the restaurant, pastel yellow and white checkered the ground, and the waiters and waitress were dressed in the oddest clothes the young chameleon had ever seen.

A few tables over a white, female hedgefox, with purple-tipped ears and markings on her muzzle, sat tensely with an envelope sitting in her lap. Kaity noted the drink next to the hedgefox and that it hadn't been touched yet. '_That's a little weird…_' she thought absently, '_Looks like she's waitin' for someone._' Her mind deemed it "None of your business" but curiosity and intuition had always been her strongest traits. But of which were telling her something bad was happening to the female. The hedgefox in question quickly flicked open a phone as it played a small tune. The chameleon detective listened her talk.

"Hello?" She sounded a little worried and clutched the envelope tighter. "Yeah, I've got the stuff you asked for. Now let me talk to Candy."

'_Who's Candy?_' the eavesdropping chameleon wondered.

The hedgefox's voice suddenly raised at whatever the other person had said. "But you said if I-" she cut herself off, suddenly having everyone's attention. She quickly bowed her head and left for the restrooms. Kaity stood up and followed, walking as if she hadn't heard the hedgefox's outburst. Lucky for her, all the doors in the building had a habit of swinging both ways when opened. Allowing her to hear a bit more of the conversation. "You said if I got the files from the Rogues, you'd give her back." A muffled voice suggested the other person talking. "And I'm here, You can't keep-" She cut herself off, catching the chameleon in the doorway.

Kaity was suddenly the picture of innocents, her smile hinted at being forced and embarrassed. "Sorry" she started apologetically, slowly backing out of the doorway, "I'll come back when you're done talkin'." She let the door swing once, suddenly disappearing and slipping through the doorway just before the opening was too narrow for her to slip through.

The hedgefox was talking again, "It was nobody." She insisted, "Just some girl. You can't keep switching our meeting places. I have what you want. I've _had_ what you wanted since the first day you took Candy. It's been a week." Another silence, and she sighed at last, "Fine, but promise me you'll keep this meeting?...okay." She hung up and went towards the door. The hidden female quickly side stepped away from the door, allowing the hedgefox to leave.

'_A week? They haven't been missing these rendezvous', they've probably just been testing her…see just how willin' she is ta cooperate. Better step in before things get outta hand._' She left the restroom and rejoined her friends at their table. The hybrid girl was still there, eating quietly.

**OoOoO**

It wasn't too long after when both the Chaotix and the hybrid were done with their meals. The girl paid quickly and headed toward the door.

Kaity stood up, handing Vector a few crumpled bills. "My half of the check. I'll see ya back at the Agency." She explained curtly and followed after her target.

As she had expected, the hedgefox started walking down the sidewalk. Mobians rarely hailed cabs or called for any transportation Earth had to offer. The detective followed silently, keeping close to walls and shadows.

The hedgefox's ears twitched slightly, but whatever she heard didn't affect her. Both walked quietly for a while longer, pretending not to notice one another. At least until the one being followed broke into a run, which the pursuer quickly copied, even if her target was faster than she. At some point during the chase, the hedgefox disappeared down an alleyway. A minute later, Kaity stood at the mouth of the alley, suddenly tense and aware of everything in her surroundings. She walked in, waiting for something to happen as she examined every inch of the wall and floor. No sign of the hybrid; only trash cans, some stray garbage, and a fire escape.

A soft _tap_ came from behind the hot purple chameleon, Only a second after turning to face the person, Kaity suddenly felt her body unwillingly fly into the dead end brick wall. The hybrid strode over meaningfully while the other girl picked herself up off the ground, only to be pinned to the wall by some unseen force. The white hybrid was neary nose-to-horn with her captive. "Take me to Candy." She demanded of the chameleon with an angry growl, her hands suddenly flaring with fire to persuade her follower faster.

**I apologize for the chapter shortness :P It looked longer in the word document...anyways, I hope you enjoyed it^^**


	14. A Friend in Need

**School's gotten a bit bad as of lately, but I'll update as muhc as I can. ^^; It'll get better when Summer comes, I promise! D= Anyway, sorry about making you wait this long, even after I told people it'd be done by the next day or so. Hopefully this can hold you over until I can find a better time to write. And I'm trying to get back into _OC Heroes _So hopefully that works out too ^^; And mow I'm rambling, so I'll shut up now. Enjoy.**

**Oh wait, I forgot, special thanks to Twilight the Gecko for checking this chapter over and helping me fix a few things =D**

Chapter 2: A Friend in Need

Now that the chase was over, it was easier to see the hybrid, even if they were only inches apart. It was easy to see the purple markings on either side of her tan muzzle matched her eye shadow, and complemented her jade eyes rather well. The same purple was on the tips of her ears. Black bangs that hung crazily over the hedgefox's face, but she didn't seem to notice it, her concentration was too intently fixed on the chameleon before her. Before she had been thrown, Kaity had seen the hybrid's clothing; a purple tank-top to match her markings short enough to show a black underbelly from the bottom of her ribcage to just about her thighs, blue caprices tucked into brown boots that stopped just below her knees and unusual gloves, strapped to her arms about midway between her elbow and hand, perhaps maroon in color.

The hedgefox was talking again, the detective tuned into her talk. "-Now take me to Candy, I won't ask again." She growled.

Kaity blinked for a moment then chuckled quietly. "I think ya got me mixed up with someone." She started, making a futile attempt to move her arms away from the wall, "I don't even know who Candy is."

"Then why were you following me?" she demanded. "And don't you dare lie." She added, the fire in her palm flared up once again, as a bond fire would with a handful of dried sticks and leaves.

The fire didn't seem too intimidating to someone who's been through what the female detective had been through, but something about the hybrid seemed to set off a warning in her. Like some kind of darkness lived in her. "I wanna help ya. But I was pretty sure that whoever has your friend was watchin' ya, so I couldn't go up and offer help right then." She started; the hedgefox's eyes suggested she believed her. "They probably left when ya attacked me. I'm Detective Kaity the Chameleon. You can call me Kaity, though."

The hold suddenly disappeared and the hedgefox started backing away. "They said no police or they'd kill Candy. I can't have you helping me." She started, heading toward the mouth of the alley.

Kaity was as her side in a second, "I'm not the police." She protested. "I'm from the Chaotix Detective Agency. We're kinda like private investigators."

"They said no-"

"If ya want your friend back, you'll need us. Kidnappers don't always keep to a promise. For all ya know, Candy could be dead. That's why you can't talk with 'er." This made the hedgefox stop in her tracks. "Let us help ya…what's your name?"

"…Dreamcast."

"And who's Candy?"

"A friend of mine…she works for a detective Agency…the Rogues."

The chameleon nodded, now that she was cooperating, things would go much smoother, she led her newest client from the alley and toward the Chaotix Detective Agency. "Don't worry, me and my friends'll help ya find Candy."

**OoOoO**

Three sets of eyes looked up at the two girls as they entered.

"Who's this?" Vector asked, gesturing to Dreamcast.

"Her name's Dreamcast. One of 'er friends got kidnapped." Kaity answered, showing the hedgefox in. She introduced each Chaotix member accordingly.

The green crocodile sat straighter in his chair, seeming more professional than his usual fashion of sitting, and pulled a pen and paper over to him. "Describe you're friend." He said.

"She's sort of light blue" Dreamcast gestured to Kaity, "darker than her eyes, but still a light blue." Vector scribbled down a short-hand note and nodded for the client to continue, "She has…I guess you it could be a mix of blue and grey in her eyes. Purple hair that goes down to about her waist, usually wears some shade of magenta-" she interrupted herself, closing her eyes as if conjuring a picture of the girl in question, " Her shorts, half shirt and headband all the same color." Vector continued to nod and jot down notes while the remaining three detectives listened. "She's got a happy disposition, sort of like a child's mind in a teenager's body." She smiled at the last comment. "Oh, and she's a chameleon." The hedgefox added quickly, "She works with the Rogues Detective Agency."

"And that's who ya had ta get information from ta get 'er back, right?" Kaity questioned.

Dreamcast nodded in reply. "Yes."

"What was it they wanted?" Espio asked.

"Um…information on someone…Malice, I think his name was." A sudden, tense silence filled the room. Dreamcast must have noticed, her ears folded back, as if she knew the danger of the name she had just pronounced.

Vector broke the silence calmly with a question. "How do the Rogues have information on Malice?"

"I think they had a case that involved him a few weeks ago. They said he got away, but they got enough evidence on him to find his hideout." The tension thickened. "And a few weeks after, Candy was kidnapped. The Rogues know nothing about it, whoever it is called me for some reason."

"What's your connection with Candy?" the green croc asked.

Dreamcast shrugged in response, "I just know a few of the members of her team and was introduced that way. Other than that, I never really knew her."

"Have you talked with Candy yet? I mean, while she was kidnapped?" Espio asked.

"Yes, just a few days ago, when they switched the meeting place and date."

"How'd she sound? Scared, worried?"

"Actually, she sounded pretty happy. Like she knew the people."

"But you didn't recognize the voice?"

"Not at all."

"What'd they sound like?" Kaity cut in.

"It sounded like a guy. Maybe some where in his teens…his voice cracked sometimes when he spoke." The last comment was added after the strange looks she received from the detective group. They nodded, accepting the assumption.

Vector stood up, leading Dreamcast to the door, "Thanks for your help, if they call you again, call us immediately after. Listen for things that could tell us where they're keeping Candy."

Dreamcast nodded in reply, a small smile appearing on her face. "Thank you."

"And insist on talkin' ta Candy next time. If they don't, then tell 'im ya refuse ta meet with 'em." The youngest chameleon added.

The hedgefox nodded again. "I will."

Vector smiled comfortingly. "Now go home and try and to get some sleep. We'll call if we get any new information." With these words, Dreamcast nodded once again and turned to leave, letting the detectives a last have a moment to themselves.

Vector closed the door, leaning his weight against it and letting out a sigh of irritation, one vermilion eye glanced at his team. "Guess we're goin' against Malice again, boys."

"Or some of his henchmen." Espio said, glancing at a clock. It read 9:58, almost time to close up for the night. "We'll get started tomorrow." He said, turning crisply on his heels in a militaristic way and headed toward his room. The remaining three following suit.

**Okay, I'm not making anymore promises about updating until school ends for me, until then, I'll update when I can. Thank you for being patient with me =D**


	15. The Search Begins

**I was hoping to update all the chapters I finished, but guess what? More computer problems. If I can't get all the files off my computer before they have to be erased from our hard drive, everything has to go bye-bye. Which sucks because I don't have copies of anything anywhere...so heopfully this can keep you at least a little happy for a while. I'll post a news thing later about wether I can or can't save my files.**

Chapter 3: The Search Begins

The next morning, the detectives were up early and investigating the backgrounds of everyone mentioned the night before.

"Dreamcast doesn't have much on hers," Espio noted. "No criminal record, no previous address, no current address…"

"What about Candy?" Kaity asked, scanning over Vector's notes from the previous night.

"Not a lot of chameleons named 'Candy' and none of them match what Dreamcast gave us." The older chameleon answered.

Vector spoke from across the room, Malice's file in hand. "And Malice doesn't have any past connections with Dreamcast, Candy, or the Rogues."

"The lady said they had info on Malice…maybe that's the connection." Charmy suggested.

"Well, that's the obvious choice," Vector started, "We're just lookin' for some other connection right now."

"And 'er name's 'Dreamcast', Charmy, not 'the lady'." Kaity pointed out. "The Rogues are a less-known detective agency, I've seen 'em a few times in news articles. They aren't too bad at their job," She grinned, "Just like us; a bunch of random Mobians workin' together for the same cause."

"I thought you didn't like reading the paper." Espio said, never looking up.

Kaity shrugged. "Well, if somethin' catches my eye…"

"And getting back on track," Vector cut in, "If we know what kind of info the Rogues had on Malice, then it might help this investigation go better."

Espio nodded, taking the number they were given to contact their client and dialed, "I'll have Dreamcast ask the Rogues about it."

"And until we know that, we should work on finding Malice and getting him to give up Candy's location."

**OoOoO**

The phone rang in the Agency after an agonizing day of searching with no results to show for it. The oldest reptile of the team answered.

"Chaotix Detective Agency," he recited, "How may we be of service?"

Dreamcast's voice came from the other side of the phone, "Vector? They called me again."

"Did you talk with Candy?" he asked.

"Yes, I kept insisting until they did."

"And how'd she sound?"

"Just fine. Not at all scared. And I think I heard something that'll help you."

"That's great! What was it?"

"It was sort of cryptic, but she said something about seeing a whale spewing water from its spout and crabs."

"…Alright…"

"The kidnappers didn't sound like they knew what she was talking about…and Candy called someone Cain." She went on after Vector's silence, "Cain is part of the Rogues."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Yeah, they arranged a new meeting place at the train station. We're meeting in a few hours."

"Call us before you leave for the meeting, a couple of us will come along to catch the guy." Vector hung up after Dreamcast confirmed the plans. "We got a new lead, boys." He told his team.

"And that would be…?" Kaity started, prompting the croc to continue.

"Somewhere with crabs and a whale." Espio, Kaity and Charmy exchanged glances, thinking maybe Vector had lost his mind somewhere during his call.

"Okay…and where do we find someplace with whales and crabs in Station Square?"

Vector chuckled to himself. "Simple. An aquarium!"

"There're no aquariums in Station Square." Espio crossed his arms over his chest. The younger two detectives snickered at the stupefied look on Vector's face. "And none in any surrounding areas, as far as I know."

"Well…that blows my idea outta the water." Vector mumbled. "No pun intended…"

"Maybe we aren't looking for a real whale." Charmy said after a moment of silence. The three reptiles looked that the insect, prompting him to continue. "She said the kidnappers didn't know what Candy was talking about when she was saying something about seeing a whale and crabs."

"And how did-"

"I listened."

"Anyway," Espio cut in, "If that's the case, then we have a few hours until the rendezvous. We have to find anywhere that would have crabs and a whale, and ask around for Candy."

"And given that, there can't be too many places around, can there?" Kaity questioned.

"My guess is somewhere along the Harbor."

"But there's also that sea food place a couple blocks from here. I'm pretty sure they're having some kind of festival right around now." Vector argued, "If they were calling from anywhere, it'd be in a hotel room or something…besides, we don't get _whales_ in Station Square."

"Then we'll search around and meet an hour before Dreamcast's meeting and exchange information. By then, hopefully one of us has found Candy."

Kaity spoke up, "We should split up into teams; since there's only one possible place to find crabs and whales around here and a lotta ground to cover in a few hours."

**OoOoO**

Espio and Vector started a search through the north and east sides of the festival Vector had correctly predicted in progress. The remaining detectives searched south and west. An hour before the set meeting with Candy's captors, three of the detectives met back at their headquarters.

"Nothin'." Kaity grumbled. "No one saw or knew Candy."

"Same here." Espio said.

Vector groaned, leaning back in his wheelie chair. "Same story with me…how could no one have seen anything?" A thought suddenly clicked in the croc's mind and he sat up, looking around the room. "Where's Charmy?" Espio looked at Kaity, Charmy's partner for the search, she looked back as if she were expecting him to answer the question.

The door was suddenly flung open by a blur of black and yellow, a familiar voice coming from it.

"Vector! Vector! I saw a whale in the sky!" the little bee cried out.

**Nothin' much to say, except I'm so sorry about how long it's been since my last update...and how long it'll be before my next...**


	16. Running On No Time

**Finally I can update this again =D Sorry to leave you all hanging for so long...hopefully these chapters can make up for it a little ^_^**

Chapter 4: Running on No Time

"A whale in the sky? Charmy, are you sure?" Vector asked, looking a bit concerned for the kid's mental state.

Charmy nodded furiously, "Yeah, I saw it!" he insisted, "I was coming back to the Agency 'cause I found out I was gone too long, and then something covered the sun. I looked up at it, and it was a whale, Vector! A flying whale!"

"Calm down, Charmy. You might've been seeing things." Espio said.

"Or, he's just lost it." Kaity added, twirling one finger by her head. The older chameleon shot her a look that stopped her immediately.

"I know what I saw." Charmy said, "Come on, I'll show you! Maybe it hasn't gone very far." The six year old grabbed Vector by the wrist and pulled him to the door, leaving the two teens no other option but to follow.

**OoOoO**

"See? There it is!" Charmy said excitedly, pointing an inflatable whale floating across the sky with a sign reading 'Help Save Me'.

"Charmy…? That's called a blimp." Kaity said, crossing her arms.

"And it's the only lead we've got. Good work, Charmy." Vector said, making the bee perk a little. "We can call and ask about that thing's flight pattern and find out where it was when Candy saw it."

"We'll have to do that after," Espio put in, "We have to go meet Dreamcast."

**OoOoO**

The trap was set and ready; Dreamcast waited in the train station with all four detectives idling about the area, acting as passengers waiting for the next train.

"We'll have to be fast, Boys," Vector had told them. "If they're planning the exchange in a place like this, he's got a good change of getting away."

A half an hour had passed and the kidnappers had yet to show up. Dreamcast looked at the door, maybe it was another test. Or maybe they found out about the Chaotix.

"Yo! Hedgefox!" A voice yelled. Dreamcast's ears perked, turning to the street just behind a chain link fence where a chameleon was parked with a motorcycle. "Toss the stuff over to me if you wanna see you're friend again." The speaker was covered almost completely, no way of recognizing him. The Hedgefox reluctantly tossed the binder she had put the information in over the fence, which was quickly caught.

The Chaotix mentally kicked themselves; none of them had thought he would wait past the fence. Espio, seeing the window of opportunity closing quickly with an on-coming train, leapt off the edge of the platform, just barely grabbing the fence and climbing over. By then, however, the kidnapper was on and shooting off. The male chameleon watched the license place of the two-wheeled machine, committing it to memory to later report just as the train came whistling by.

"Sorry about that, I didn't even think they'd come that way." Vector apologized to their client.

Dreamcast sighed shakily, "I didn't either."

"And now they've got what they want…" Kaity started, "Which means we have even less time than we did before and no way of tracking them."

"Not exactly." Espio climbed back onto the platform, "I got his plates."

Vector grinned, "Perfect, we'll report those in." He turned to Dreamcast, "I think you should go home and relax for a while."

Their client shook her head, "No, I'm helping." She insisted.

The head of the Chaotix looked at the remaining three; none of them seemed to object to the idea. "I guess we could use a little more help on this…" he said thoughtfully. "Alright, you can help. We'll report the plate and then call about the whale blimp." Dreamcast's confused expression obviously stated how much filling-in would be required.

**OoOoO**

Vector hung up the phone, "They said the blimp was around the hotel down by the train station…the one that only goes to Mystic Ruin and back." The crocodile reported, "Kaity, you take Charmy and Dreamcast and head down there, it's a pretty small area around there, search every building you can." All three nodded and began toward their assigned area. "Espio, you and I are gonna track down the motorcycle."

"Are you sure that's possible?" Espio asked, crossing his arms. "For all we know, it's passed by us several times and we never even noticed it."

"Well then, watch more carefully this time." Vector countered.

The ninja pinched the bridge of his horn, grumbling something inchoate.

**OoOoO**

"Alright," Kaity started, looking around the area, "The only places that can go high enough to see the whale are Twinkle Park, the hotel and that building over there."

"Should we split up?" Dreamcast asked.

"I wanna check Twinkle Park!" Charmy cried.

"It'd probably be better if we stayed together, we'll cover more ground in a single building faster…besides, we've only got one way to communicate and Vector's got the other walkie-talkie."

"Where do we start, then?" Dreamcast questioned.

"Twinkle Park!" Charmy insisted.

"Not Twinkle Park." The chameleon said, Charmy's antenna drooped a little with his bottom lip beginning to tremble.

"Let's try the hotel." Dreamcast cut in, sensing the young bee's tears about to come. "I don't think they'd be able to find someplace quiet enough to make the call they did and still have a window to see the blimp."

The chameleon in charge opened her mouth to protest and quickly changed her mind from their client's glare. The darkness she had felt before seemed to come back…probably not a good idea to make her mad at the moment. Both detectives followed their extra teammate into the building. "If she said it spewed water, then there had to be something else in the air to make that happen." Kaity said.

"Then we should go back outside and look around." Charmy said, flying toward a door he thought was the exit with the others following.

The door turned out to be the door to an out-door restaurant. The tables were simple white, circular tables with two chairs each. The chairs were also white, thought their tops fell into a V shape. Kaity picked up her walkie-talkie as a voice crackled over it. "Didn't catch that." She said.

Vector's voice came over again, "The license plate that guy had was fake, we just found it in the garbage a few block from where he got the info on Malice."

Charmy pointed up, "There's the whale!" Sure enough, the blimp floated across the sky.

Dreamcast watched it for a moment, tracing its path forward. She pointed to a column of white rising from a cruse liner ship. "Could that be what Candy saw?" she asked, praying it was. After all, the kidnappers were about to get away scot-free and Chaos knows what they would do to Candy now.

"I bet it is. I've seen that ship around a lot." Charmy responded.

"Then we found where Candy saw the whale," Kaity said thoughtfully turning to the hotel, "Now we need to find which floor she'd be on. And fast."

"And the crabs." Charmy reminded her.

"We know it would have to be up high to see the whale 'spew water.'" Dreamcast added. "Which means it could've been any of the higher floors." The older two sat down at the nearest table to think.

Charmy buzzed in his place, staring at the two, then another table. The bee detective did a sudden excited flip, "I know where the crabs are!" he shouted.

**Almost there =D Ya think Charmy's really got the answer? For Candy's sake, he'd better.**


	17. The Crab and Whale Case: SOLVED

**Well, another This Is What We Do done, another two to go (At least XD). Hopefully you all like this ending for this one ^_^ Enjoy.**

Chapter 5: The Crab and Whale Case: SOLVED

The bee flew as fast as his wings would carry him, saying nothing more about his discovery, despite Dreamcast and Kaity's questions. He stopped in an elevator backed with glass that looked out toward the moving cruise liner and over the restaurant, flapping his arms wildly at the two girls to hurry up.

Dreamcast slipped in just before the door closed, "Charmy, where are they?" she questioned.

"Just gimme a second. I'll show you." Charmy hit the top floor button, setting the elevator in motion. That being done, he flew over to the glass backing, and watched the tables and chairs as they rose higher and higher. _'At least, I _think_ I know where they are…'_ the bee thought to himself, watching still.

The girls joined him in watching. "Charmy, what're you getting' at?" Kaity asked, looking from the little bee to the ground.

"Just wait." He answered. Their elevator reached the fifth highest story before the bee spoke again. He crushed his face against the glass and pointed down, "There! See 'em!?" He yelled in excitement. The teen girls looked to where Charmy was pointing; the tables and chairs. "See? The tables are the body and those pointy chairs make the pinchers!"

"Oh yeah! I see it." Kaity and Dreamcast answered simultaneously. Charmy, still giddy from his victory, hit to stop button, pressed the button for the next floor.

"She's probably somewhere on this floor, then." Dreamcast said, following Charmy out. It just so happened a room service woman was on the same floor.

"Excuse me," Kaity walked over to the woman, pulling out a picture of the kidnapped chameleon, "Have you seen my sister? She was stayin' with friends 'ere and we were supposed ta pick 'er up today."

The woman took the picture and nodded. "I've seen her. Her room was on the floor below this one, but she left just a few minutes ago. You can probably catch her at the check out."

"Thanks." The chameleon took the picture back and raced for the stairs.

"We can use the elevator." Dreamcast called after her.

"Stairs are faster." The female reptile disappeared down the stairs, her footsteps pounding down the carpeted stairs. The hedgefox and bee exchange glances and go back to the elevator. They might need to catch the kidnappers at another angel.

**OoOoO**

Candy looked around the huge lounge in awe; there were at least five chandeliers and a lot of crystal-like lamps next to black leather furniture. The teal chameleon pulled a dum-dum sucker from her pocket and stuck it in her mouth as she continued to look around.

A grey chameleon with a long scar going across one side of his face handed the woman at the desk enough money to cover the days they had spent in the hotel, he didn't seem to be bothered by Candy. A black female echidna, however, seemed _very_ bothered.

She waited until the lady as the desk was busy with something else to speak. "Uh…'Cain'? Do we _really_ have to kill her? She hasn't done anything wrong…besides, we got the info Malice wanted."

'Cain' looked back at her, almost with distain. "Yes, 'Kara-su', we _have_ to kill her. Malice's orders, remember?"

"But it's not like she really saw our faces." 'Kara-su' replied, glancing back at the chameleon. "Besides, she's just a kid."

"She's a teenager."

"A teenager with a child's mind."

"So?"

"She doesn't deserve it!"

The male chameleon turned on his heels, glaring down his partner, "Look, unless you wanna go against orders and get yourself killed, you'll stop worrying about the kid."

The echidna's mouth tensed to a tight line, what else could she say? The woman came back from whatever she had been doing and handed the chameleon a receipt.

"Thank you, come again." She said cheerfully.

The kidnappers turned to leave, Candy following happily behind and talking about how everything in the room was so shiny. When a female voice made the two stop dead.

"Someone stop them! They kidnapped that chameleon girl!"

**OoOoO**

As she had predicted, the chameleon made it to the lobby faster than the elevator had, she glanced down at the picture, praying to Chaos she wasn't too late. When she looked back up, the kidnapped chameleon was clearly visible in the lobby. Another chameleon was with her and an echidna.

They were heading for the exit, she could run over and make a scene, but either one of them could be concealing a weapon. She took her next option, pointing at the group and shouting, "Someone stop them! They kidnapped that chameleon girl!"

The echidna and chameleon froze in their tracks, both turning to the voice. Candy, looking confused, turned also, seeing the chameleon pointing to her group. Several others looked too, yet no one moved.

"Actually," Candy said, "They're my-" the sucker dropped from her mouth as an arm locked itself around her throat and a gun was against her skull.

"Nobody move." The male chameleon commanded, watching the room go still. The kidnapper gestured to his companion. "Start going, the car's outside." The echidna started backing out slowly.

The detective reached for her gun, freezing immediately as the other gun's target transferred from Candy to her and a small _ding_ came through the room. "Don't. Move." The chameleon growled, now starting to back out with his companion.

**OoOoO**

The doors to the elevator opened making a quiet _ding_ as they touched down on the main floor. Things were already looking bad; the entire room was quiet, a grey chameleon had Candy and a gun trained on Kaity. "Don't. Move." He growled, keeping his eyes on the detective and backing out toward a black echidna.

"Cain and Kara-su are the kidnappers…?" Dreamcast said to herself. But that couldn't be possible, they had done everything to get Candy back…why go through all the trouble? The confused hedgefox looked to her side, hoping to get a second opinion on the matter, but only found air where Charmy had been. The teen mammal looked around and found her tiny friend hidden behind a suit of armor standing upright by a column not too far away.

Charmy huffed and puffed pushing with as much force as he could manage without letting his wings make too much noise, but he was tiny and the armor was much bigger and heavier than he was. The kidnappers would get away unless he could get it to topple. In a last ditch effort, the bee backed away from the armor, uncaring on the noise his wings made and zipped forward, successfully bringing his target clattering noisily to the ground.

With all the attention on the bee and tumbled armor, Kaity took her chance. Quickly drawing her gun and letting off a single shot, hitting her target squarely in the shoulder. The captive squealed as the bullet whizzed by and blood leaked from her supposed friend's arm. The grey chameleon snarled at the female responsible shaking off the pain.

He thrust his captive to the side, starting in a run forward toward a new target. Scales were replaced by tangled and rough fur, claws grew out from his gloves, and the two-legged runner was suddenly pounding across the lobby on all fours.

The chameleon girl stepped back instinctively, but held her ground as the newly transformed wolf came at her. The kidnappers could transform.

Candy stared at what used to be her friend in complete horror. How could she have mistaken _that_ for Cain? She looked at Kara-su, who was standing half-in and half-out of the hotel.

"Candy!" the called chameleon looked over at a familiar face coming toward her, "Candy, are you alright?" Dreamcast asked, hugging the chameleon in relief.

"Yeah…I thought they were Kara-su and Cain." The teal colored teen answered quietly. "I didn't know…"

"It's alright, you're safe now. That's all that matters." Dreamcast cooed.

Charmy flew over, looking panicked, "Kaity's in trouble!" he cried.

The reunited friends looked at the wolf with his shooter pinned beneath him. Based on the look on the chameleon's face and the large paw pressing down on her windpipe, anyone could have guessed she wasn't getting enough oxygen. Her gun had fallen out of reach when the wolf pounced.

"Candy, stay here." The hedgefox demanded, taking off to save the reptile in need.

**OoOoO**

Kaity gasped for air, any attempts to command the beast off her came out as dry gurgles. She was helpless, her gun had been knocked away, she was pinned down by power she couldn't match and the wolf was cutting off her air slowly.

The shape-shifter growled again, lowering its muzzle until he was nose to horn with his prey. As a non-Mobian wolf, he couldn't speak, yet his intentions were clear.

"Get off of her." A voice commanded, followed almost immediately by a sudden burning sensation on his back. The wolf howled in pain, freeing the chameleon to see his new attacker; the hedgefox they had been calling. Flames burned around her hands, "Get off of her." She repeated darkly. Her opponent growled in response, lunging for her. Dreamcast put up a hand, the wolf froze in mid-air. In a fast move, the wolf was whipped across the room, slamming into a pillar and falling to the ground. She stalked over to the downed wolf, her palms flaring and ready to go.

The similar face of Kara-su stood in front of the wolf, a pleading look on her face. "Wait, don't hurt him. He can't control it anymore; his shape-shifting has a mind of its own." As if to demonstrate her point, the fearsome wolf melted away into a small, dark yellow fox, looking no older than thirteen. Kara-su changed into a brown rabbit with thick trufs a white and black fur, most likely eighteen. She looked pleadingly at Dreamcast once again. "Please…" she begged quietly.

Part of the hybrid felt it would be best to comply with the rabbit's wishes, but a more controlling side was reminded of how both these Mobians had kidnapped and manipulated Candy into believing she was safe with her friends. The rabbit yelped as her back slammed into the same pillar her friend had hit. Fire engulfed Dreamcast's hands once again her muzzle taking on the sudden, strange characteristic of two red lines on both sides, rather than then one purple line on each side; the only thing stopping her from unleashing it was a younger female chameleon.

"Dreamcast, do what it takes, but don't kill 'em." Kaity growled sternly, grabbing the hedgefox's arm. "They're caught and Candy's safe, just be happy with that." With that said the chameleon walked over to the fallen two and handcuffed each, handing them off to the police whom had arrived a few minutes before hand.

**I'm sorry, no one could've figured that out =P I don't know what I was thinking when I made shapeshifters the bad guys...I'm gonna have to get away from that in the next one...**


End file.
